Ice adheres to the surface of an object with enormous force due to the hydrogen bridges between the water and the surface. Frost and damage by ice occur in cold climatic zones and in various parts of the world during the winter. The many risks due to frost and icing include those at sea and in the air due to the formation of ice on ships and aircraft. This problem also occurs to a marked extent on drilling platforms in offshore regions. There has been no lack of attempts to prevent the formation of ice. Mechanical, thermal and chemical methods have been tested but all these have hitherto met with little success and have generally been much too expensive.
Previous attempts to prevent the formation of ice on the surface of objects by applying a coating composition have slightly reduced the tendency to ice formation. Known coating compositions used for this purpose predominantly contain acrylic resins, rubber, fluorine-containing resins, silicone resins, etc. Among these, the silicone resins are still the most suitable for producing certain improvements (see e.g. Chemical Abstracts, Volumne 93, 134 009p, U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,215, German Pat. No. 3,238,039). However, the formation of ice could not hitherto be reliably prevented.